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I come from the assumption that God can read our minds. That we can pray silently and that God will hear our prayers.

However, can Satan hear our prayers as well? Can he hear our other thoughts?

I ask because if Satan can hear our thoughts, then he may learn ways to tempt us by listening to our prayers to God.

A very related question is, can he give us thoughts of evil? Whether or not he can read our minds, can he implant ideas into our minds?

Richard
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I don't think there is any Biblical evidence of this. However, if we assume he can't, directly (which I suspect) then I'm sure he can indirectly, through a combination of body language, experience of humans and knowledge of specific individuals.

Say for example you look twice at an attractive member of the opposite sex - you don't need to read minds to have an educated guess what that person might be thinking.

Btw, I assume the question is referring to demonic entities in general. The likelihood that Satan, who is not all knowing nor all present, is trying to figure out what you are thinking must be pretty low.

Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
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    Yes, this summing up that Satan has centuries of experience! – Click Ok Oct 27 '11 at 14:32
  • Would you consider editing this answer? It may have been acceptable in 2011, but I don't believe that it lives up to the site's current standards. – Andrew May 23 '16 at 23:54
  • @Andrew - simply asking me to edit it does not provide any information, you need to specify what changes you want! Or make the changes yourself. Or write a better answer. – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE May 24 '16 at 06:46
  • I apologize, I assumed it was obvious- you need to support your opinions with exegetical, scholarly, or critical analysis. A user with your reputation should be well-accustomed to the standards here. – Andrew May 24 '16 at 11:59
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A Lutheran pastor I know addressed this question for me years ago. He said that Satan cannot read or control the thoughts of Christians. He further said that Satan can implant thoughts into our mind, but it is up to us whether we allow our minds to linger upon the thought.

I believe he cited demon possession as an exception to this, but Christians are protected from demon possession by the presence of the Holy Spirit. I believe Satan cannot read or control the thoughts of anyone without demon possession.

@Wikis brings up a crucial point that Satan can gain considerable clues as to our thoughts based on our actions, expressions, etc.

Stainsor
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Reading minds to my knowledge is solely something for God to do, as it is He who discerns the thoughts and the heart. However, that doesn't mean that satan doesn't do a good job of inference. he is also said to send fiery darts, which would of course be in various forms spiritually, including thoughts and temptations. That covers implanting thoughts, but not reading them, so I don't believe he can read thoughts.

RolandiXor
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Only God can know what is in our minds. Even the saints and the Virgin Mary cannot know what's going inside our inner thoughts if we don't let them know (in our prayers).

The same rule applies to our guardian angel.

So the devil cannot know what goes in our minds. But we should consider Satan is very intelligent and he can read clues, as we can read in other people corporal language, and infer something about what are we thinking.

ppaulojr
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